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High Fantasy Modern Storyhour - The Long Road (updated December 7)
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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 2840632" data-attributes="member: 63"><p><em>Halloween</em></p><p></p><p>Robert and Scarpedin spend the night in the police cruiser, parked in Dr. Gomez's garage. They occasionally catch glimpses of a party going on inside the main house, but aside from the doctor's wife, no one else knows they're there. The doctor's wife is dressed as Morticia from the Addam's Family. On a hunch, they ask the doctor his name. Adam Gomez.</p><p></p><p>Over the next hour, Dr. Gomez and his wife tend to Robert and Scarpedin, not asking any questions. The doctor performs minor surgery on Robert's wounds and tends to a few injuries Scarpedin still has from earlier in the day, while his wife brings them all the candy they could want, joking that they have the best "fugitives from the law" costume she's seen all night.</p><p></p><p>Robert and Scarpedin talk to Terry a lot, trying to make sure they understand the situation clearly. Terry is completely positive that Adrien Lee knew what he was doing and killed him in cold blood, and that Belladonna not only did nothing to stop it, but practically gave her approval. A few tests reveal that while Terry can still sense magic, and is pretty sure he'll be able to plane shift if needed, he can't seem to use any of the other types of magic he could do when he was alive -- healing, illusions, some attack and defense. He can't even levitate things with telekinesis.</p><p></p><p>Robert's high begins to fade. When he started this mission a few hours ago, he was planning to arm up, attack Adrien Lee, get revenge, and then die. After what had happened with Walter, he had not really been eager to sit around and let innocents be harmed by people like . . . well, like him. But now that he has managed to accomplish something so bizarre as bringing Terry back as a ghost, he's reconsidering his martyrdom plan. In a way, that's a good thing, because he realizes he actually feels like what he's doing has some meaning. But now he also has enough time to ponder, to remember what he has done because he thought it was right, and to think about what really separates him from a murderer like Mr. Lee.</p><p></p><p>It's nearly 5 am, and he's starting to drift off to sleep. The Gomezes have gone into their house and to bed. Scarpedin is still chatting incessantly with Terry, asking him whether ghosts get sleepy, but the man's voice has a nice droning quality to it that is helping his eyes get heavy.</p><p></p><p>Then his phone rings. The number is blocked.</p><p></p><p>Robert struggles to shake off his sleepiness, and tells Scarpedin to be quiet. He pulls out the police radio, sets it to transmit, and answers his cell on speakerphone. He is greeted on the other end by Adrien Lee. There's something strange in the man's voice; he sounds detached, neither smug nor nervous, and Robert's attempts to goad the man into admitting anything he has done wrong all fail.</p><p></p><p>Adrien Lee suggests that what has happened this evening has been a terrible misunderstanding, the result of information given to him by a source he has now learned had its own agenda. In short, he says, he was deceived, and that someone he trusted betrayed him and an accident befell that hurt Terry. Mr. Lee then says that he has Terry under his protection now, but that the boy is recovering and cannot speak.</p><p></p><p>So much has happened, it takes Robert a moment to realize that Adrien Lee is trying to con him, and that the man doesn't realize that Robert knows Terry is dead. Which is strange, because it suggests he doesn't know about what happened at the morgue. Robert is curious, but nervous. He asks what Adrien Lee wants.</p><p></p><p>Over the evening, Lee says, he has learned through his daughter Belladonna that Robert, John, and Scarpedin were discussing some sort of retribution against him. He offers to meet with Robert in the morning, so he can see that Terry is safe. All he wants is to clear up any confusion. His brother-in-law's house was already attacked tonight, and he just wants to make sure no one else gets hurt.</p><p></p><p>Robert takes a few seconds, then agrees. He doesn't know many landmarks, so he says for Mr. Lee to meet him at a Starbucks near the St. Louis Cemetery. Robert will come alone, and Mr. Lee should only come with Terry. A moment later, Robert adds, 'and Belladonna.'</p><p></p><p>Mr. Lee chuckles, saying he's amused that Robert is treating this like some sort of prisoner exchange. But he promises to be there.</p><p></p><p>As soon as Lee agrees, Robert turns off his phone and the radio, and turns to Scarpedin.</p><p></p><p>"Okay, that made <em>negative</em> sense. Help me figure this out."</p><p></p><p>"I dunno man, I was kinda planning to go to sleep. The sugar high from all that candy's wearing off."</p><p></p><p>Robert glares at him the way a mom looks at a disobedient child before she starts giving him a well-deserved beating.</p><p></p><p>"Just do it," he says. "Now, he doesn't know that we know Terry's dead. He definitely doesn't know we actually have Terry, which means he didn't have anything to do with the stuff at the morgue. Unless he does know what we know, and he's just trying to throw us off and make us think he's got bad intel. Which means he's expecting us to lay an ambush for him, which means it won't be him there. Right?"</p><p></p><p>"Yeah." Scarpedin holds the bracelet near his eye. "Y'know, this thing has all kinds of weird writing on it."</p><p></p><p>"So," Robert continues, "if he's going to have someone else there, that means he wants to ambush us too, which means we shouldn't be there. But he has to figure we'll figure this out, and that neither one of us is going to be there. So what does he want?"</p><p></p><p>"Hey," Scarpedin says, "Terry thinks maybe we ought to ditch the cop car, in case the cops were able to track the radio transmission."</p><p></p><p>Robert nods, and they sneak out of the Gomezes' house, Robert still talking to himself.</p><p></p><p>"If he actually <em>does</em> want to make peace . . . that makes no sense, because he knows Terry's dead. So he must want to capture or kill us. If he knows that we know Terry's dead, then he knows we won't fall for it, so he has to be banking on us wanting revenge. If he thinks we don't know Terry's dead, then we wouldn't want revenge, so we're not a threat, so why would he risk killing us in a public place? Scarpedin, does any of this make sense to you?"</p><p></p><p>Scarpedin is unfazed. "Sh*t, Robert, half the stuff you say doesn't make sense to me. I just want to know, y’know, are we gonna kill him?"</p><p></p><p>"Terry," Robert asks, "do you have any reason for us not to kill Adrien Lee?"</p><p></p><p>Robert watches as Scarpedin listens to the response from Terry's ghost in the bracelet. Scarpedin shrugs. "He says he has a few reasons why not to, but his overall consensus is, 'kill the bastard.'"</p><p></p><p>Robert nods. He's glad he's not the only one who's not one-hundred percent sure on this thing.</p><p></p><p>They head for a nearby intersection and wait for a taxi. Robert pulls out his phone and starts calling the Bureau. He just wishes he knew what Mr. Lee was planning.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p>In a distant part of the city, a body and repair shop flickers with light as Nathan tries to fix the damage caused to his car by a glancing mini-gun hit and a frag grenade. His vision is filled with the flare of a welding torch when the vision comes.</p><p></p><p>He's drinking his morning Starbucks coffee, looking out the door at the nearby cemetery, when he sees a woman enter, next to a man dressed all in black. The man's face is concealed, and the woman's hands are tied, but no one seems to notice. They sit down at a nearby table, the man puts a briefcase under his chair, and then the bomb goes off, obliterating the store and killing a dozen or more people.</p><p></p><p>Nathan snaps out of the portent, the flare of the dreamed explosion fading into the flame of the torch. Nathan turns off the torch, stands, and stretches, then checks his watch. He lets out a breath, then shakes his head in bemusement.</p><p></p><p>"Awfully unusual number of bombs going off these days, I'd say."</p><p></p><p>He heads to get his laptop. He has a few hours before the breakfast rush, and there's research to be done.</p><p></p><p></p><p><em><strong>End of Eighth Session</strong></em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 2840632, member: 63"] [i]Halloween[/i] Robert and Scarpedin spend the night in the police cruiser, parked in Dr. Gomez's garage. They occasionally catch glimpses of a party going on inside the main house, but aside from the doctor's wife, no one else knows they're there. The doctor's wife is dressed as Morticia from the Addam's Family. On a hunch, they ask the doctor his name. Adam Gomez. Over the next hour, Dr. Gomez and his wife tend to Robert and Scarpedin, not asking any questions. The doctor performs minor surgery on Robert's wounds and tends to a few injuries Scarpedin still has from earlier in the day, while his wife brings them all the candy they could want, joking that they have the best "fugitives from the law" costume she's seen all night. Robert and Scarpedin talk to Terry a lot, trying to make sure they understand the situation clearly. Terry is completely positive that Adrien Lee knew what he was doing and killed him in cold blood, and that Belladonna not only did nothing to stop it, but practically gave her approval. A few tests reveal that while Terry can still sense magic, and is pretty sure he'll be able to plane shift if needed, he can't seem to use any of the other types of magic he could do when he was alive -- healing, illusions, some attack and defense. He can't even levitate things with telekinesis. Robert's high begins to fade. When he started this mission a few hours ago, he was planning to arm up, attack Adrien Lee, get revenge, and then die. After what had happened with Walter, he had not really been eager to sit around and let innocents be harmed by people like . . . well, like him. But now that he has managed to accomplish something so bizarre as bringing Terry back as a ghost, he's reconsidering his martyrdom plan. In a way, that's a good thing, because he realizes he actually feels like what he's doing has some meaning. But now he also has enough time to ponder, to remember what he has done because he thought it was right, and to think about what really separates him from a murderer like Mr. Lee. It's nearly 5 am, and he's starting to drift off to sleep. The Gomezes have gone into their house and to bed. Scarpedin is still chatting incessantly with Terry, asking him whether ghosts get sleepy, but the man's voice has a nice droning quality to it that is helping his eyes get heavy. Then his phone rings. The number is blocked. Robert struggles to shake off his sleepiness, and tells Scarpedin to be quiet. He pulls out the police radio, sets it to transmit, and answers his cell on speakerphone. He is greeted on the other end by Adrien Lee. There's something strange in the man's voice; he sounds detached, neither smug nor nervous, and Robert's attempts to goad the man into admitting anything he has done wrong all fail. Adrien Lee suggests that what has happened this evening has been a terrible misunderstanding, the result of information given to him by a source he has now learned had its own agenda. In short, he says, he was deceived, and that someone he trusted betrayed him and an accident befell that hurt Terry. Mr. Lee then says that he has Terry under his protection now, but that the boy is recovering and cannot speak. So much has happened, it takes Robert a moment to realize that Adrien Lee is trying to con him, and that the man doesn't realize that Robert knows Terry is dead. Which is strange, because it suggests he doesn't know about what happened at the morgue. Robert is curious, but nervous. He asks what Adrien Lee wants. Over the evening, Lee says, he has learned through his daughter Belladonna that Robert, John, and Scarpedin were discussing some sort of retribution against him. He offers to meet with Robert in the morning, so he can see that Terry is safe. All he wants is to clear up any confusion. His brother-in-law's house was already attacked tonight, and he just wants to make sure no one else gets hurt. Robert takes a few seconds, then agrees. He doesn't know many landmarks, so he says for Mr. Lee to meet him at a Starbucks near the St. Louis Cemetery. Robert will come alone, and Mr. Lee should only come with Terry. A moment later, Robert adds, 'and Belladonna.' Mr. Lee chuckles, saying he's amused that Robert is treating this like some sort of prisoner exchange. But he promises to be there. As soon as Lee agrees, Robert turns off his phone and the radio, and turns to Scarpedin. "Okay, that made [i]negative[/i] sense. Help me figure this out." "I dunno man, I was kinda planning to go to sleep. The sugar high from all that candy's wearing off." Robert glares at him the way a mom looks at a disobedient child before she starts giving him a well-deserved beating. "Just do it," he says. "Now, he doesn't know that we know Terry's dead. He definitely doesn't know we actually have Terry, which means he didn't have anything to do with the stuff at the morgue. Unless he does know what we know, and he's just trying to throw us off and make us think he's got bad intel. Which means he's expecting us to lay an ambush for him, which means it won't be him there. Right?" "Yeah." Scarpedin holds the bracelet near his eye. "Y'know, this thing has all kinds of weird writing on it." "So," Robert continues, "if he's going to have someone else there, that means he wants to ambush us too, which means we shouldn't be there. But he has to figure we'll figure this out, and that neither one of us is going to be there. So what does he want?" "Hey," Scarpedin says, "Terry thinks maybe we ought to ditch the cop car, in case the cops were able to track the radio transmission." Robert nods, and they sneak out of the Gomezes' house, Robert still talking to himself. "If he actually [i]does[/i] want to make peace . . . that makes no sense, because he knows Terry's dead. So he must want to capture or kill us. If he knows that we know Terry's dead, then he knows we won't fall for it, so he has to be banking on us wanting revenge. If he thinks we don't know Terry's dead, then we wouldn't want revenge, so we're not a threat, so why would he risk killing us in a public place? Scarpedin, does any of this make sense to you?" Scarpedin is unfazed. "Sh*t, Robert, half the stuff you say doesn't make sense to me. I just want to know, y’know, are we gonna kill him?" "Terry," Robert asks, "do you have any reason for us not to kill Adrien Lee?" Robert watches as Scarpedin listens to the response from Terry's ghost in the bracelet. Scarpedin shrugs. "He says he has a few reasons why not to, but his overall consensus is, 'kill the bastard.'" Robert nods. He's glad he's not the only one who's not one-hundred percent sure on this thing. They head for a nearby intersection and wait for a taxi. Robert pulls out his phone and starts calling the Bureau. He just wishes he knew what Mr. Lee was planning. [center]* * *[/center] In a distant part of the city, a body and repair shop flickers with light as Nathan tries to fix the damage caused to his car by a glancing mini-gun hit and a frag grenade. His vision is filled with the flare of a welding torch when the vision comes. He's drinking his morning Starbucks coffee, looking out the door at the nearby cemetery, when he sees a woman enter, next to a man dressed all in black. The man's face is concealed, and the woman's hands are tied, but no one seems to notice. They sit down at a nearby table, the man puts a briefcase under his chair, and then the bomb goes off, obliterating the store and killing a dozen or more people. Nathan snaps out of the portent, the flare of the dreamed explosion fading into the flame of the torch. Nathan turns off the torch, stands, and stretches, then checks his watch. He lets out a breath, then shakes his head in bemusement. "Awfully unusual number of bombs going off these days, I'd say." He heads to get his laptop. He has a few hours before the breakfast rush, and there's research to be done. [i][b]End of Eighth Session[/b][/i][b][/b] [/QUOTE]
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